Monday, January 9, 7:00p.m. Program Planning We will begin the new year with a mandatory program planning meeting for the national LWV where the local leagues have input into what the National League plans to study or look at for the next year. Marge Innes will lead the discussion.

Monday, January 16, 7:00p.m. Board Meeting This meeting will be held at the home of Marge Innes. Her address and phone number on the front page.  

Monday, January 23, Legislative Conference  This is a day set aside every January sponsored by the State LWV for any and all League members in the state to come to Denver for the day, listen to various speakers from the Legislature, have lunch together, perhaps have time to go back to the capitol to listen or lobby your legislator. This event will replace our usual second LWV Adams County meeting program. Notify Shirley Mrochek (phone and email on front page) if you are planning to go. Our League pays for the registration so your cost is just $13.00 for the lunch. On your check (due at our January 9 meeting) please specify your lunch choice. Deadline to register is Jan. 11, 2012. We will carpool or take the bus. Shirley will give details when she has names of those attending. More details on later page.

Monday, February 13, 7:00 p.m. Juvenile Justice A program on Juvenile Justice will be presented. The speaker will be announced in our next Voter.

Monday, February 20, 7:00 p.m. Board Meeting This meeting will be held at the home of Shirley Mrochek.

Tuesday, February, 28, 11:30 a.m. Privatization Study The purpose of the Privatization Study is to identify those parameters and policy issues to be considered in connection with proposals to transfer federal, state or local government services, assets and/or functions to the private sector. It will review the stated goals and the community impact of such transfers, and identify strategies to ensure transparency, accountability, and preservation of the common good. Marge Innes will lead this discussion.

Kathleen's Jabberwocky                                                         Kathleen Jensen Wow! The League of Women Voters has such a powerful purpose statement:
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences
public policy through education and advocacy.

Our February 13 meeting at Gander Mountain from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. is going to both inform us and get us asking questions about the Colorado Juvenile Justice System as it operates in both Adams and Denver counties. Speaking at the program will be District Attorney Don Quick of the 17th Judicial District (Adams County) and Second Judicial District (Denver) Juvenile Court Judge D. Brett Woods.

The speakers will spend an hour talking about the nuances of the juvenile justice system – comparing and contrasting it to the state’s adult system, including the wide range of offenses that may bring a young person into the system. Specific attention will be given to answering how the public wrongly perceives ideas about the power of the Juvenile Court, what considerations go into decisions about where to charge a defendant, the rights of young people, and what can happen to a young person who breaks the law. Judge Woods and DA Quick will also comment on the over representation of minorities in the juvenile system and issues of over treatment and its affect on young offenders.

The speakers will highlight changes in the system and the progress made in improving the system over the past several years and currently. This includes a reduction in the number of cases brought into the system each year, recidivism, and restitution.

Following the closed panel discussion, the speakers will open the discussion for questions from the floor (us). For additional information, please contact Nina Forgo, (303) 653-3422 or ninaforgo@hotmail.com.
A great big thank you to all who took part in the consensus meeting for our study of The Role of the Federal Government in Public Education. Our thoughts have been submitted. Now we wait for the National Consensus outcome in April, at which time we will be able to take a call to action position. This is a dynamic process and I am delighted to be a part of it.

Notes from the board meeting 1/16/2011                              Ruth Richards   Judy Nicholaisen had information on an upcoming LWV Jefferson County meeting/discussion on Hydro-fracturing. It will be 2/22/12, 7 - 9 p.m., in the Columbine room at Clements Community Center, 1580 Yarrow Street, Lakewood CO. There will be representatives from Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Colorado Environmental Coalition and the oil & gas industry. Shirley Mrochek shared information that Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter will hold a town hall meeting at Thornton City Council Chambers 1/30/12 at 5:30 p.m. Pat Campbell received a thank you letter from Deb Haviland, director of development at Community Reach Center. We reviewed the past meetings. All agreed that the Christmas dinner was excellent this year. Bob Briggs did a good job on presented the updates at Rocky Flats. National program planning discussed disenfranchisement. For now Fracking is still state issues, not ready for a national study. Thirteen members will attend Legislative Day. Shirley will email everyone going the bus schedule. Kathleen Jensen and Nina Fargo are getting ready for the 2/13/12 meeting on Juvenile Justice which will be a forum/discussion. Judge Brett Wood and Adams County District Attorney Don Quick will be the guest speakers. They will send out a press release to the HUB and local newspapers. Cathy O'Grady will the nominating committee chair-person. She will contact Allison Beggs to call all members to see if anyone would like to serve on the board.  

LWVUS Privatization Study
Timeline: Jan. - April 2012 Adams County LWV Meetings - Feb. 28 and Mar. 12
May 1,2012 - Submission of Consensus Forms to LWVUS

Privatization often occurs as a response to economic downturns when costs need to be shifted in order to maintain the service yet reduce the cost to government.

This is a taste of what we will be discussing at our two meetings on privatization. If anyone is interested in this topic, I eagerly solicit your help with these meetings.

When strictly defined, the three terms privatization, deregulation, and decentralization have very different definitions. However, these terms are often used interchangeably and consequently have become confusing and less than precise in their meanings. They are frequently used interchangeably to describe the same phenomena. Through the following discussion of these three terms, the definitions, and how the terms are used in this dissertation are clarified.
Pure privatization is the total transfer of assets and authority from the government sector to either the private for-profit or nonprofit sector. This process is also referred to as "load shedding". The government bows out of providing or producing or being involved in any way in the provision or production of a service. Privatized entities or entities that have been deemed independent move into the private sector. They no longer are a part of the government sector. A decision is made that the government should no longer provide a whole category of activities. Privatization is often used as a means to shrink government and to reduce risk the cost. Public sector privatization is typically viewed as a means of maximizing economic efficiency - reducing government costs while increasing the scope and quality fo service delivery by transferring government functions to the private sector.

Review of LWVCO Legislative Conference Marge Innes                           Cath Perrone - president of LWV of Colorado - greeted us and introduced Sally Augden from the LWV Legislation Action Committee.
Sally Augden introduced Brandon Shaffer - Colorado Senate President - who spoke briefly and said the Legislature's #1 job is to grow the economy and to balance Colorado's budget.

Next Robert Loevy, a professor from Colorado College, and a member of the CO Reapportionment Commission, said that the time has come to reform the reapportionment Commission first formed in a ballot amendment in 1974 with the backing of the LWV. He said the name should be changed to the Redistricting Commission. He said that the process did not work very well. Another member spoke and said she thought the process worked well and that computer programs are making the mapping simple. The 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans and, most importantly, 1 unaffiliated member who headed the commission worked well.

James Griesemer former head of the Business School at DU talked about Strategic Issues facing Colorado Government:
1. Heavy reliance on sales and income tax leads to higher volatility during periods of economic change.
2. Spending is predictable - it always goes up.
3. Mandated spending (K-12, Medicaid, Corrections) will crowd everything else out.
4. K-12 funding has cannibalized funding for higher education and at the same time per pupil funding has fallen even further to
where Colorado now ranks among the lowest states nationally
5. Reframe government to focus on citizen value and make value visible to make government an enabler of services
6. Eliminate constitutional mandates that mandate spending or artificially limit growth of revenue, i.e. repeal Amendment 23 and repeal TABOR except citizen right to approve new/expanded taxes

The last speakers of the morning discussed the Lobato case and what it means for Colorado. The Lobato Case was brought in 2005 by a girl in a school district in the San Luis Valley dealing with the inequality of school districts across the state. Kathy Gebhart from Children's Voices of Colorado said the case is not asking the state for money but for recognition of the problems.

The lunch was very tasty and Christine Watson, the LWV Lobbyist, gave a good rundown of the direction the Legislature is taking and the bills to watch.

FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITY

We have been invited to take part in a fundraising activity with NITA, National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 1685 38th St., Ste. 200, Boulder, CO 80301-2735 on Saturday, April 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. by serving as jurors in mock trial situations. Each participant will receive $25.00 as a donation to our league. For more information, contact Nina Forgo at (303) 653-3422. Join us for an exciting day!
NITA, initially formed in 1969, is the nation’s leading provider of legal advocacy skills training, providing a variety of continuing legal educational programs for attorneys throughout the United States. It is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization that pioneered the legal skills learning-by-doing methodology over 40 years ago. It has since remained the ultimate standard in continuing legal education. Website: http://www.nita.org

Mission Statement

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Dues are $48 per year, pro-rated after January 1^st to September 15^th.   This covers the cost of our local League’s pledge to the National LWVUS and its publication “The Voter” issued 4 times a year plus the state League and its publication “Colorado Voter” (published quarterly). The financial support of our local league activities, including the newsletter and other publications, registration for workshops and special projects, comes from member donations above the $48.00 level.  We appreciate any donations in excess of the dues. Thank you for your consideration.  Dues levels are as follows:

                        Friend  $48.00 (basic dues)                             Sustaining  $75.00

                        Supporting  $60.00                                          Advocate    $100.00

.Checks may be made payable to LWV of Adams County and mailed to:

 SHIRLEY MROCHEK, TREASURER, 10781 WANDA LANE, NORTHGLENN, CO 80234

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_e-mail______________________________________

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